HESBURGH LECTURE SERIES 2012 Program - Alumni Association ...

Rev. Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C., Ph.D., ’61, ’69 M.A.
Associate Professor, Management; Fellow, Joan B. Kroc Institute for
International Peace Studies
Biography
Rev. Oliver Williams, C.S.C., is an associate professor of management in the Mendoza College
of Business, and director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business.
Williams served as a member of the United Nations Observation Mission for South Africa’s first
post-apartheid national elections in April 1994. He has studied the South African business and
political landscape for many years, and is the author of The Apartheid Crisis. He is a co-editor
of A Virtuous Life in Business and of 14 other books in the field, including Is the Corporation
Dead? Social Responsibility in a Global Economy and Business Religion and Spirituality: A New
Synthesis.
As an associate provost of Notre Dame from 1987 to 1994, Williams served on the Provost’s
Advisory Committee and chaired the University committees on continuing education, the disabled, and the academic honor
code. In 1991, he chaired a special University committee that studied ways to enhance the ethical dimension of education at
Notre Dame. In 2006, he was appointed a member of the three-person Board of Directors of the United Nations Global Compact
Foundation. His most recent books include Global Codes of Conduct: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Ethical Values and
Peace Through Commerce: Responsible Corporate Citizenship and the Ideals of the UN Global Compact.
Lectures
Can You Do Well While Doing Good?
Today, many believe that business ethics is an oxymoron. Following the spirit of the famous line, “an ambassador is an honest man
lying abroad for the good of his country,” some business leaders conduct their operations as if the bottom line is the only concern.
Is it possible to do well while doing good? Discussing many examples such as Microsoft, Anglo American, Coca-Cola, and Merck,
the lecture outlines how it is possible to outline a way for a business manager to exhibit superior performance in business and yet
be a model of virtue and ethical values.
Recent Catholic Social Thought: a Remarkable Turn
Catholic social teaching took a remarkable turn with the May 1991 document on economic ethics, Centesimus Annus. During
their 100- year history, church documents were notable for their courageous championing of the rights of the least advantaged;
they were much less distinguished for their understanding of how markets and incentives function in capitalism. With this 1991
document, however, there is a growing conviction that the church may have come of age in economic ethics. The lecture outlines
the highlight of the document and its points of continuity with the tradition, and the prospects for developing a spirituality for
business life.
South Africa: A Vision of the Future
Each June and July, Williams teaches at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, working with emerging business leaders.
The lecture outlines why he is so hopeful that South Africa will be the first success story of the continent.
The United Nations Global Compact
One of the more hopeful signs that the globalization of the economy might lead to a more humane world is the U.N. Global
Compact, a new initiative (2000) intended to increase and diffuse the benefits of global economic development through voluntary
corporate policies and actions. With a focus on human rights, labor rights, environmental stewardship, and anti-corruption
activities, the Compact strives to give globalization a human face. Today there are more than 7,000 companies that have joined the
Compact, as well as more than 1,000 non-government organizations (NGOs). The lecture outlines the Global Compact and how it
might humanize global business in the future. Williams is a member of the four-person Board of Directors of the United Nations
Global Compact Foundation.
116 The Hesburgh Lecture Series, 2012 Program
Categories
Business, Church, Ethics